Experts Business Terms

Archive for November, 2009

In the current Global Business paradigm outsourcing and purchasing from international vendors is the norm in Corporate America. Even small and medium sized businesses must be thinking here to trim costs, remain competitive and survive. With these truths unveiled perhaps I might be so bold as to recommend a very good book, on International Purchasing:

“International Purchasing Handbook” by James M. Ashley – 1998.

There are almost too many traps to consider in international purchasing. This book spends quite a bit of time explaining how global sourcing in the Pacific Rim, must be understood by international purchasing agents if they hope to succeed. Finding experts is paramount and understanding how these suppliers think is too and that is before you even get into language barriers, legal barriers, tariffs and getting payment to them or receiving payment. How to use brokers, clearing houses, freight forwarders and trading companies are clearly defined in this book with case studies, examples and warnings.

Importing on your won, there is a whole chapter on commercial invoice, certificates of insurance, certificates of origin and payments in accordance with importing rules and regulations. There is also a chapter on developing a sourcing plan, finding international sources and making international relationships; empathy, understanding, history, etiquette, friendliness, and how to win and dine. Sub-chapters on Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea, with topics on Southeast Asia, Europe – both East and West. Some discussion on Middle East, Israel, and Latin America too.

Learn how to negotiate with foreign partners and suppliers. How to negotiate with various cultures and how to document tactics, all key to international purchasing and well defined in this work. The book is filled with contracts and things you need to know when contracting once you have negotiated terms, more importantly how to enforce these contracts and how to consider the costs in every single clause of the contract. There is a chapter on various laws in international business as well as trade quota issues and explanations of International Agreements and Associations:

Good Business Intelligence will provide answers to your questions. Great Business Intelligence will answer the questions you wish you had asked. So how do you ensure that your Business Intelligence is great Business Intelligence? The first step is to develop a definitive picture of what you want the BI to deliver. Never lose track of core idea: BI should provide answers to your questions.

Initially, I would advise that you produce a list of dreams and desirables. Ignore whether data is actually available in this first step. A good Business Intelligence professional will often be able to derive information from existing data where it would seem impossible – let them decide what is achievable and what is not. It’s extremely common for a BI implementation to highlight the benefit for new streams of data to be collected and stored.

Joe’s Garage has expanded beyond all expectations through diligence and the use of Business Intelligence. As a result of this success, Joe has expanded the types of data he records and now, as well as customer and completed job records, the company also retains information on employee time keeping, job timings and costings, and a host of other areas of business. As more information is collected Joe becomes increasingly excited about new opportunities. Start here…

With wish-list in hand, confer with anyone who may have an insight into the information your company is storing. Now is the time to track down any information that anyone may be tracking on their personal spreadsheet etc, it can all be reported on and analysed, and can all be of benefit. If your company has Database Administrators, they are likely to be more aware of what data is available than anyone else. Most IT, administrative and management roles involve elements of data collection, recording and monitoring, so prepare to be surprised by the scope of your existing data.